The World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised India for its move to resume COVID-19 vaccine exports at a time when there is an acute shortage of vaccines, especially in lower-income countries. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked India for resuming the export of COVID-19 vaccines in order to fulfil its commitment towards COVAX. “Thank you...

In a significant development, Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila has sought emergency use approval for its three-dose COVID-19 vaccine candidate ‘ZyCoV-D’ from the Indian drug regulator. Notably, the company is claiming it to be the world’s first ‘plasmid DNA’ vaccine that is needle-free and safe for children. A plasmid DNA vaccine, when injected, produces the...

The Indian drug regulator—Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)—has granted pharma major Cipla the required permission to import the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by US-based vaccine maker Moderna for restricted emergency use in India. Cipla had approached the DCGI seeking its nod to import and market the jabs. In a bid to fast-track the approval process,...

US-based vaccine maker Moderna has approached the Indian drug regulator seeking emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in India. Media reports suggest that the vaccine maker may soon get the nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the administration of its vaccine for people above 18 years. Notably, Indian pharmaceutical major...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday directed officials to take the help of NGOs to widen the outreach for vaccination against COVID-19. The direction came during a review meeting of the national immunization drive chaired by PM Modi. Notably, 3.77 crore doses of the vaccines have been administered in the last 6 days which is...

Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ has been found to be 77.8 per cent effective in protecting against the viral infection, according to the phase 3 clinical trial results that have been submitted to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The phase 3 trial involved 25,800 participants from across the country. The...

Over 47 lakh COVID-19 vaccines were administered in India on Monday, according to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan. It is the highest number of jabs administered in a single day in India since the vaccination drive began in January. Notably, Monday also marks the first day when the revised vaccination guidelines, which make the Centre...

With the Centre likely to start procuring 75% of the doses of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in the country for the national vaccination drive, Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech on Tuesday said that supplying the jabs to the government at Rs 150 per dose is not sustainable in the long run. The company is demanding freedom to...

Vaccine maker Novavax on Monday claimed that its COVID-10 vaccine candidate has an overall efficacy of 90.4 per cent. The results are based on the phase 3 trials conducted on 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the US and Mexico. Notably, the company intends to touch a manufacturing capacity of 100 million doses per month...

Vaccine wastage by states will affect the allocation of jabs to them, the Union government said Tuesday in the revised guidelines for the national vaccination drive. The revised guideline comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, post the Supreme Court’s criticism, announced free vaccines for all above 18. The Centre has clarified that it will procure...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the Union government will once again take control of the responsibilities given to states for carrying out vaccination of people in the 18-44 age group. PM Modi, while addressing the nation, said that the Union government will provide free vaccination to all above 18 years starting June...

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has sought permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for manufacturing Sputnik V—the Russian vaccine against COVID-19. The application was made yesterday, according to media reports. Notably, SII, the biggest vaccine maker in the world, is already manufacturing Covishield—the COVID-19 vaccine developed by...